<p>By Greg Bruno
May 23, 2007</p>
<p>Times Herald-Record</p>
<p>West Point More than 63,000 West Point-educated officers have tossed their caps high above the Hudson.</p>
<p>From Class of 1802 graduate Joseph Gardner Swift, No. 1 in the record books, to Jason Zuniga, No. 63,101, all could be labeled "distinguished."</p>
<p>But yesterday, that superlative was reserved for a select group of U.S. Military Academy alumni five winners of the annual Association of Graduates' Distinguished Graduate Award.</p>
<p>"We have a truly distinguished group of American soldiers that happen to be West Pointers," retired Lt. Gen. Theodore Stroup, chairman of the graduates' association, said following a brief award ceremony here.</p>
<p>The winners' biographies read like a book of American history. They include:</p>
<h1>Lt. Gen. John Wright, the oldest honoree, who was commissioned in 1940 and shipped out to the Philippines soon after. Within months of his deployment Wright was captured by the Japanese. He spent three and a half years in conditions later described as the worst of World War II.</h1>
<h1>Brig. Gen. Amos A. Jordan, Class of 1946, is a former State and Defense Department official. He served as a member of the first President Bush's intelligence oversight board.</h1>
<h1>Col. Joseph G. Clemons, who, in 1953, commanded a company in the infamous Korean War battle of Pork Chop Hill. Clemons led 135 men of K Company in the assault; his story was later portrayed by Gregory Peck.</h1>
<h1>Maj. Gen. Joseph P. Franklin, former assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Franklin was West Point's 58th Commandant of Cadets from 1979 to 1982; he later served as senior U.S. defense representative to Spain.</h1>
<h1>Maj. Gen. Bernard Loeffke, a Purple Heart recipient and former director of the Commission on White House Fellows. Loeffke, a lifelong athlete and accomplished swimmer, remains deeply involved with medical missions to the Third World.</h1>
<p>Since 1992, the Association of Graduates has honored members of the Long Gray Line who embody the West Point motto, "Duty, Honor, Country."</p>
<p>Past recipients include military and nonmilitary leaders alike, from presidential advisor Gen. Andrew J. Goodpaster, Class of 1939, to Duke University basketball coach Michael W. Krzyzewski, a 1969 graduate.</p>
<p>But this year all of the winners spent decades in uniform, a fitting tribute, Stroup said, as the newest members of the Long Gray Line prepare to graduate on Saturday.</p>
<p>"They all followed the colors for a full military career," the AOG chairman said. "You'll not find a West Pointer on a day like today that's not proud of being a West Pointer."</p>